Old Friends and New!

Old friends ... This picture is of my friend Jennifer and her husband Duane. I knew both of them in Lompoc when I was a kid. Duane's parents and my parents were good friends but I didn't know Duane that well. His sister twirled baton with me when I was little and then also twirled flags with me at BYU. Jennifer moved to Lompoc not too long before I moved away when I was 13. We didn't keep in touch but have had some contact over the years through family and even bumped into each other once my last year at BYU. I got back in touch with Jennifer a few months ago when I started using facebook. (Have I said how much I love facebook for getting me back in touch with so many of my friends and helping me keep in better touch with so many others?) Its been lots of fun to catch up on their lives and hear about them and their kids. So, when we decided to go to Vegas again, I suggested we meet up (since they live there). This was our afternoon/evening together! Duane & Jennifer Bickmore, me and Steve.
First, we met up with Duane and Jennifer and their 4 kids in the MGM Grand Hotel. We went to M&M World, where we watched the M&M Movie. You'd think it would be Taylor's highlight of the trip, but NO! Taylor HATES it - its 3D and it freaks her out - so she buried her face in my shirt the ENTIRE movie (she remembered how much she hated it from last year and never even opened her eyes when it started). She does LOVE the store and the big M&M statues!


This picture is by the M&M sponsored race car on the 4th floor of the store.Then we went next door to the Coca-Cola Store. We got a tray of Floats - 8 different flavors for the kids to have. I guess we don't have floats very often at our house ... none of our girls ate theirs. Jessica didn't like the flavor of her soda. The ice cream and root beer mixed together was NOT working for Taylor. And I completely forgot that Alyssa HATES all soda - she doesn't like carbonation. So, Steve got to eat their floats. :) Nice thought. Thanks Duane for buying! This picture is of Hunter, Alyssa, Samantha, Sydney and Sari.This is Taylor trying the float ... we gave her root beer, thinking since she loves root beer she'd maybe like the float ... but she decided NOPE! New friends ... As we were leaving we noticed the Coca-Cola bear and we all took pictures with him! Samantha, Sydney, Alyssa and Sari. Alyssa and Sari discovered they are twin friends ... born on the exact same day - both in Utah County (one in Provo, one in Orem). Alyssa adored Sari and has already asked when she gets to see her again. Our family with the bear. Taylor nor Jessica was very thrilled with being this close to the bear.After M&M World and the coke floats, we went to Rain Forest Cafe for dinner. The kids all sat at one end of the two tables and the adults sat at the other. They got along great the entire dinner! Thanks Karianna and Samantha for sitting with them and helping keep them entertained. back row - Sari, Sydney, Alyssa, Taylor, Jessica. front row - Hunter, Samantha and Karianna.

On our way to the car, we walked past the lion exhibit. They have 2 or 3 lions in the exhibit most of the day. It was almost 8pm so I thought it would be closed, but to our surprise, there was a small crowd and still 2 lions. We stopped to watch. This is of the kids watching the lions from behind the glass walls. While we were standing watching them sleep, two trainers came out to feed them. I've seen the lions probably a dozen or more times, and even seen trainers with them, but never seen a feeding. Its pretty impressive. They each had a 3 or 4 lb brick of raw meat formulated for lions (I think they said it was horse meat!). Anyway, the way they fed them was by breaking off small pieces of it and throwing it at the glass windows. The lions would then lick it off the glass that was inches from us - so we got to see their teeth and giant jaws! Did you know a lion's mouth can open up to 12 inches wide? BIG MOUTHS!

They also hand fed the lions at times like you can see in this picture.

I think this afternoon/evening was a highlight for me on this trip. Steve is typically rather shy around my friends and feels like he has nothing to say. As a result, we haven't done a lot with my friends on our trips or even my friends who live locally (if Steve doesn't know them well). Its been hard for me because my friends mean so much to me. I've felt like I drifted away from many of my friends and that was hard for me. If you know me really well, you know that keeping in touch with people has always been a big deal for me. I had several military friends move when I was in elementary school and I wrote to them a lot. Then when I moved, keeping in touch with Lompoc friends was a BIG deal to me. I was a big letter writer. I remember writing LONG novels/letters to friends and anxiously waiting for letters back. I remember sitting on my bed reading and re-reading letters from some of my friends who wrote me. The letters and phone calls I got from "home" meant the world to me, especially that first year as I adjusted and made some new friends. Over the years, I have kept in touch with lots of friends and am so grateful for that.

So, when I got back in touch with Jennifer and had the opportunity to see her, I was really glad Steve encouraged it. We tried to connect with them in St George a month ago, but we got to town just as they were getting ready to leave. So, we tried again in Vegas. When it went so well, I was even more grateful. Steve enjoyed the evening too - and conversation was easy and fun. Over the last few months, I've really loved reading Jennifer's blog and keeping in touch with her. I really admire her. She is strong, smart, beautiful and a great mom. Life hasn't always been easy and isn't always easy now for her ... but she's strong and I admire her for that. Without even knowing, who she has become despite her challenges has inspired me through some really tough times this past 3 months. THANKS JENNIFER! Thank you for being the person you are and for being my friend again! And I look forward to seeing you again in the future. You are always welcome at our place!